Laine Theatre Arts, sometimes referred to as Laines, is an independent performing arts college, based in the town of

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The college was founded in 1974 by former professional dancer and dance teacher

Betty Laine Betty Laine , is an English dance teacher and former professional dancer. Biography Born Betty Chamberlain in Cardiff, Wales in the United Kingdom, Betty Laine was educated at the Ursuline Convent School in Brentwood, Essex, and received her ...

OBE, and developed from an earlier school, the Frecker-Laine School of Dancing. It provides specialist vocational training in dance and musical theatre. The college prepares students for a professional career in the performing arts. The college is accredited by the

Council for Dance Education and Training The Council for Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre (CDMT), formerly known as the Council for Dance Education and Training (CDET), is the quality assurance and membership body for the professional dance, drama and musical theatre industries in the ...

and it offers Qualifications and Curriculum Authority recognised qualifications validated by the

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...

. Key areas of study include singing, acting and dancing. It was rated "Outstanding" by Ofsted in 2016.

Overview

Laine Theatre Arts provides specialist vocational training at further and higher education level in

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. The college prepares students for a professional career in the performing arts and has a history of feeding artists into

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...

, dance companies, television, film, pop music and other high-profile areas of the entertainments industry all over the world.

Training

The college offers four tracks of study, covering vocational, professional training in the performing arts: *Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance validated by Trinity College London *Level 6 Diploma in Professional

Musical Theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

validated by Trinity College London *Laine Theatre Arts Foundation Diploma (1 Year) in Dance and Musical Theatre *BA (Hons) Musical Theatre (Unique one year post level 5 Diploma, Top Up Honours Degree. Validated by the University for Creative Arts. Both Diploma courses are accredited by Trinity College London and are recognised by the

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) was a charity, and an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Education. In England and Northern Ireland, the QCDA maintained and developed the National Cu ...

. The college is also accredited to the

. Many student places at the college are funded by the British Government through the Dance and Drama Awards (DaDA) scheme. The college is also an approved centre of the

Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is an international dance teaching and examination board based in London, England. The registered educational charity, which was established on 25 July 1904 as the ''Imperial Society of Dance Te ...

. Students have the opportunity to gain nationally recognised dance teaching qualifications with the organisation, in ballet, tap and modern theatre dance. The college stages an annual production at the local 'Epsom Playhouse' theatre. The college also offers evening adult dance classes, for both beginners and the already initiated.

Patrons

*Sir

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...

Derek Deane Derek Deane (born 18 June 1953) is a British dancer and choreographer. Biography Derek Deane was raised in Redruth, Cornwall and trained in the Royal Ballet School. As a dancer, he eventually became a Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet, lat ...

* David Grindrod *

Gillian Lynne Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne (née Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-runnin ...

DBE *

Stephen Mear Stephen Leonard Mear (born 1964) is an English dancer, choreographer and director best known for his award-winning work in musical theatre. In the 1990s, Mear taught dance at the London Studio Centre. In 2005 he and co-choreographer Sir Matth ...

Arlene Phillips Dame Arlene Phillips (born 22 May 1943) is an English choreographer, talent scout, television judge and presenter, theatre director, and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment. For many years, she was most noted as the c ...

CBE * Stephen Brooker

Notable alumni

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. Wi ...

* Charlie Bruce *

Karen Bruce Karen Bruce (born 25 March 1963) is a choreographer and director who has worked in theatre and television. Bruce's work includes direction and choreography of ''The Last Tango'', ''Dance 'til Dawn'', ''Midnight Tango'' and ''Love Me Tender''. S ...

Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis (born 3 February 1970) is an English actor. He played the title character in ''Willow'' (1988) and the ''Leprechaun'' film series (1993–2003), several characters in the ''Star Wars'' film series (1983–2019), most nota ...

Louise Dearman Louise Dearman (born 13 March 1979) is a British actress and singer, perhaps best known for playing Glinda and Elphaba in the West End production of the musical '' Wicked.'' Notably, she is the only actress to have played both witches in any prod ...

Kerry Ellis Kerry Jane Ellis (born 6 May 1979) is an English actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music. Born and raised in Suffolk, Ellis began performing at an early age before training at L ...

Jo Gibb JoAnn Gibb is a Scottish theatre actress best known for her role of Rumpleteazer in the 1998 film of Andrew Lloyd Webber's '' Cats'', and as the replacement Pearl the Observation Car in the original production of ''Starlight Express''. She al ...

* Sean Ghazi *

Sarah Hadland Sarah Hadland is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Stevie Sutton in the BBC One BAFTA-nominated comedy television series '' Miranda'' (2009–2015) and Trish in ''The Job Lot'' (2013–2015). Hadland appeared as the Ocean S ...

Ruthie Henshall Valentine Ruth Henshall (born 7 March 1967), known professionally as Ruthie Henshall, is an English actress, singer and dancer, known for her work in musical theatre. She began her professional stage career in 1986, before making her West End d ...

Lee Latchford-Evans Lee Latchford-Evans (born 28 January 1975) is an English singer, dancer, stage actor and one of the five singers of the British pop group Steps. Early life From Ellesmere Port, Evans was born as Lee Latchford Evans, with his middle name Latc ...

Enda Markey Enda Markey (born 3 June 1976) is an Irish-born, Sydney-based, theatrical producer and former singer and actor. He is the producer of the stage productions ''Side by Side by Sondheim'' and the international tour of Boublil and Schonberg's ''Do ...

Gerard McCarthy Gerard McCarthy (born 31 March 1981) is an actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Biography McCarthy was born in Belfast and attended St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School. They came out as non-binary in 2022 & now use they/them pronou ...

Anu Palevaara Anu Irmeli Palevaara (born 14 August 1971 in Helsinki) is a Finland, Finnish actress, choreographer and dancer. She is best known for her role as Jenni Vainio in the Finnish soap opera ''Salatut elämät'' which airs on MTV3. Palevaara has bee ...

Dominique Provost-Chalkley Dominique Provost-Chalkley (born 24 March 1990) is a British-Canadian actor, best known for their role as Waverly Earp on the television series '' Wynonna Earp''. Career They began dancing at the age of four and, at the age of 16, began traini ...

Aaron Renfree S Club 8 (originally S Club Juniors) were a spin off of the British pop group S Club 7. The group's members, Jay Asforis, Daisy Evans, Calvin Goldspink, Stacey McClean, Aaron Renfree, Hannah Richings, Frankie Sandford and Rochelle Wiseman wer ...

* Ben Richards *

Leanne Rowe Leanne Rowe (born 1982) is an English actress and singer, known for portraying Nancy in '' Oliver Twist'', May Moss in ''Lilies'' and Baby in '' Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage''. Background Rowe is from Brentwood, Essex. She has two ...

Alex Sawyer Alexander James Sawyer (born 13 February 1993) is an English actor, singer, songwriter and director. He is best known for his roles as Alfie Lewis in '' House of Anubis'' and Topher in '' The End of the F***ing World''. In 2018, he began portra ...

Charlie Stemp Charlie Stemp (born 30 November 1993) is an English actor. Stemp came to prominence for his leading role as Arthur Kipps in the West End musical ''Half a Sixpence'', which earned him a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a M ...

Summer Strallen Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen (born 21 December 1985) is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of '' Love Never Dies'' and Maria ...

* Nick Winston

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Schools of the performing arts in the United Kingdom Drama schools in the United Kingdom Dance schools in the United Kingdom Epsom